Art is a means to negotiate to open new territories. In the museum environment (and elsewhere) we are negotiating: negotiating the new definition of museums at ICOM, negotiating spaces for inclusivity (language representations, communities, …), negotiating the past (when contested heritage), negotiating multiperspectivity (when narratives have been monopolized), negotiating administrative structures (how to handle agency and power structures). Negotiation makes it possible to reconcile the institution and the artistic creation together and the artistic tool plays its role of mediator in the negotiation. Negotiation creates a system where artistic and creative tools may play a decisive part.
Eugénie Forno, 2022
For this essay, I chose the term “negotiation” because, to me, it seems central when addressing other concepts such as “power”, “diversity”, or “change”. I chose this word because I felt that I, and our working group in SAWA, were negotiating a way to exist together and to renew museum approaches and standards in order to analyze concepts such as “relevance” and “inclusivity”.
Art uses negotiation processes and negotiation makes art. Both notions are intertwined. The creation process depends on negotiation and each project had to adapt and rely on the permissions given by public authorities.